Monday, August 15, 2011

Thanks to Duane and his telephoto we have some nice shots as we head in for final sprint at Cedar RR

15 Seconds just about 230 meters out. Otto had made his move to the front 200 meters earlier and this is almost exactly where he started his sprint to the line.

10 seconds out, about 137 meters. Mike Sevcov has moved around the rider he was following (yellow and black jersey to the far left.) I'm just maintaining my position behind Mike and protecting a line by staying to his right (my left) so I wouldn't get boxed in.

6 seconds out, about 80 meters. Ray Wagner on the far left is coming around the blocking rider. Steve Crowley is stuck in the middle.

1 second out, Ray Wagner moving up on the left, Ray Crowley has moved across to the right. Both are slightly to late.

Otto has a good gap. He has lead the sprint from 450meters out. First attacking to get to the front and then then sprinting from 250m. Mike Sevcov still going strong.

Sunday, August 14, 2011

Beautiful weather in Nanaimo today... forecast was for showers but there was just a few scattered clouds and the temperature was warmish but not hot. A fairly strong group for 50-59's (17) with a bunch of strong young guys who seemed happy to do a lot of work keeping the pace up.

First lap we averaged 39.1 kph, lap two was 38.4. We caught most of the 60's about halfway into lap two. The remaining three 60+ riders at the beginning of lap three. We never did see any of the younger groups. They where several minutes behind us at the finish.

Going into the last 5km of the race I just stayed near the front bouncing from wheel to wheel as appropriate taking an occasional pull at the front. Just over a kilometer from the finish there is a little dip, going up the small climb a small group jumped past me from the back requiring a sharp response, gave me the peak power for the day, 922 watts, 573 average for 12 seconds. Followed by 30-40 seconds VO2Max effort. But that kept me on the wheels of the front half dozen riders.

I was able to re-position in that group about 3rd back on the outside giving myself open road to move up when needed. At about 400m there was an attack from the back. I was able to follow that wheel, staying roughly 3rd.

At 200m Mike Secov came sprinting down the inside and the the rider I was following responded. We finished 1,2,3. Great leadout!

So at the finish rider Otto Kamstra 1st overall, Mike Secov 2nd, and I was 3rd.

The advantage here was the flat (ish) final sprint with a long lead out... A little work on my part helped to spice things up starting about 5km out. Pull the speed up early, get people working harder earlier... wind the final leadout up starting a km out... by the time you get to the finish line you have a bunch of people who are tired and hopefully aerobically challenged... Which impacts their final sprint.

Effectively this tries to change the odds from favoring those with good 5s-1m power to those with good 3m-5m numbers :-)